To the Lonely Mountain
by M-Lyria
Summary: When Thorin's company rescues a young ranger from an orc attack, they fully expect to drop her off at the first reasonably safe place they encounter and don't expect a lot from her. Fíli certainly doesn't expect to find her attractive. Rothruin defies each and every expectation, but maybe she can salvage the disaster the quest was doomed to become.
1. Chapter 1: Ambush

**Full summary**: When Thorin's company rescues a young ranger from an orc attack, they fully expect to drop her off at the first reasonably safe place they encounter or drop her off near enough to one. They don't expect her to grow on them like she did, nor do they expect her to shout and grumble at Lord Elrond. They certainly don't expect her to come along on a quest she really does not have any business with and Fili especially did not expect to find her attractive.  
Rothruin defies each and every expectation, and maybe, in the end, she can salvage the disaster the quest was doomed to become.

* * *

**Chapter one: Ambush**

Rothruin sometimes wondered what she possibly could've done to deserve the many disasters her life consisted of. It seemed that from the moment she was born, or maybe even conceived, it was a never-ending stream of unlucky happenings, downright disasters and everything in between. Her latest bit of bad luck fitted quite well in the downright disastrous category.

She had been ambushed. Wargriders fell upon her without warning and very nearly ripped her to pieces before she had had even a chance to react. Rothruin had experience in wargambushes though and evaded the first attack immediately drawing her twin swords. Killing the first warg to recover, she since had been involved in a deathly dance she knew she was losing. She tried not to think about it, lest her thought wandered to dangerous places, but she knew she was out of her league. It was merely a matter of time before she succumbed and went on one last adventure.

She screamed when a warg got through her defence and bit her leg, fully intent on ripping it off, and bashed its skull in with the pommel of her swords. She stumbled backwards, only by some miracle capable of standing. The orcs smiled viciously, knowing they had their prey and descended once more on her when a strange cry reached all of their ears and suddenly the orcs were the ones being ambushed.

Rothruin didn't pay much attention to her would-be rescuers, but gripped her swords more tightly, ignored the pain shooting up from her leg and rejoined the fight. An orc easily knocked her blades aside, making her stumble, and the strong jaws of his warg closed around her stomach. Rothruin screamed, she screamed for all she was worth, while the warg tried snapping her in two. She screamed, ignored the sudden silence that had descended and with some strength she didn't know she had, she stabbed the warg in his soft underbelly. It released her, throwing her aside like some rag-doll.

For a while lying where she had fallen, was all she could do. Darkness was creeping up from the edges of her vision, tempting her with the promise of a lack of pain. She saw a pair of boys, one light-haired the other dark, defending her fallen form and when she turned she saw many others killing orcs and wargs. She didn't hear what was said, shouted or otherwise uttered. The bony fingers of unconsciousness were clinging to her, but she refused to give in. Instead she tried to rise, using her swords for leverage ignoring the occasional concerned muttering from her two protectors, not really understanding what they were saying anyway.

Rothruin rose, steadied herself and promptly flung one of her swords into the neck of an unsuspecting orc who had been trying to sneak up upon one of her rescuers wielding a branch, before falling unconscious.

* * *

Óin had seen many an injury, ranging from innocent cuts and bruises to gruesome war wounds at the courtesy of some orc. He had always treated them without batting an eye only occasionally grumbling. The injuries of the young lass they had rescued however, made him stare. He wondered how, in the name of Mahal, she had been able to stand. Of course he had seen her being bitten by a warg, they all had, but as she rose not that much later he believed the warg - for whatever reason - hadn't bitten very hard. He apparently was wrong. It appeared the warg had been very short of snapping her in half. He shook himself and quickly went to work.

The small clearing they had chosen to camp in, was quiet and each and every eye was trained on Óin and his charge. They hadn't moved very far from the site of battle, not really daring to move the young ranger over long distances. Gandalf had carried her, but their short trek had been accompanied by moans of discomfort the entire way. Óin certainly understood why now.

He sighed to himself, laid her cloak over her and rejoined his kin. He had done all he could.

"How is our young ranger?" Gandalf asked, eyes flitting over to the still form of said ranger.

Óin wondered briefly if their wizard knew his charge, before answering. "Only time will tell. I've done all I can, but there is no telling if she will survive. It would be best if we weren't to move her-"

"Impossible," Thorin Oakenshield, leader of their company, immediately cut in.

Óin dipped his head. He knew they could not stay, if not for the fact they were on a quest, then for the fact that the orc- and wargbodies would attract their fellows. He had no desire to be near when that happened. They simply had to move her and hope for the best. "Of course. I don't expect her to wake anytime soon, though I expect to be notified the moment she does." With that he retreated to his brother's side and proceeded to ponder over his charge while staring at the fire.

He watched as the two youngest of their company tentatively crept over to the young ranger's side and watched over her while she slept, probably quite uncomfortably. He dimly heard Thorin, Gandalf and Balin discussing their next course of action, but without using his trumpet he couldn't really hear what was said.

He wondered who his young charge was, for young she was quite obviously. He had seen enough of the race of Men to know she couldn't be far out of childhood. But that begged the question why she was traveling and on her own no less. Gandalf had said she was a ranger, but that didn't mean too much to him. He saw a young woman who shouldn't have been out in the wilds on her own, even though her expertise with her swords was evident. He didn't doubt for a moment she was proficient with the bow they had found on her either, but she was simply too young in his eyes. He was more than glad his own nephew was still in Ered Luin.

"She's young," Bilbo noted quietly as he came over with two bowls of food.

"Too young," Óin gruffly answered. He had no way of knowing her actual age short of asking - which was currently impossible - but he felt he was right. He accepted his bowl from their burglar hobbit and proceeded to stuff himself.

Glóin took the other. "How young do you reckon?"

"Around Kíli in Men's years would be my guess."

The two fell silent and Bilbo returned to the fire getting his own bowl from Bombur. The silence was rather short-lived for Kíli ran over, stating something that blew Oín's expectations quite spectacularly.

"She's awake."

For a small moment Óin couldn't really comprehend what the youngest heir was saying and wondered whether he had misheard without the use of his faithful trumpet, but judging by the look of disbelief on his brother's face, he had heard quite correctly. How she was awake, was anyone's guess, but Óin had a patient to get to. He got up and crossed the short distance easily, the young heir hot on his heels.

Kíli hadn't been lying.

The young woman was very much awake and looked up at him with startlingly clear eyes. She hadn't tried to move by the looks of it, for which Óin was grateful and only followed his inspections with her eyes. He finished his inspection not finding a clear reason why she would be awake, and with such clear eyes too. It suited him just fine though. "Listen, lass, you are not to move at all if possible. You have been injured severely and will need quite a time to heal."

The young woman grimaced, but made no protest. She did, however, shift a tiny bit that had Óin glaring at her.

"Fíli, don't let her move." Not even an inch preferably. Óin wondered hardly for the first time why patients never listened to their healers, ungrateful idiots the lot of them.

"What about tomorrow?" Fíli asked. "We can hardly stay here."

Óin shook his head. "We'll have to move her and hope for the best." He could only hope that by the time dawn came, her wounds had closed enough not to open when jostled onto a pony. He made to move away when the voice of his young charge cut through the silence of the night.

"Thank you."

He looked curiously at her, adjusting his trumpet so he could hear her better. She seemed not to be done with her words yet.

"Thank you for rescuing me. You could've just moved on."

Óin nearly bristled at the almost insinuation in those words. None in this company would leave anyone to the mercy of orcs, be they of their kin or no. He didn't say that though. "Anytime, lass, anytime." Though the decision to save her hadn't really been made by him.

The young ranger seemed to deem their short conversation done as she moved her head to be better able to look at her surroundings. Óin narrowed his eyes at her movements, deciding to stay just a while longer to make sure she really didn't move. Recognition dawned in her eyes and he nearly missed her mutterings if not for the fact he had his trumpet facing her.

"The irony," she muttered softly.

He had no idea what irony she was talking about and apparently neither did the two heirs. "What irony?" they asked in tandem.

She fixed her eyes on them and seemed to debate whether she would tell them or no. She closed her eyes for a moment before answering in such a soft tone Óin had to bend closer so he could hear. "If you would walk down the narrow path facing our right, you would come upon a small site where a single stone epitaph was erected. It is all that reminds of an orc ambush that had taken place there around eight years ago. My own ambush was not too far from there, hence the irony."

Óin didn't see the irony and certainly didn't think a young woman as herself should be thinking like that. He shook his head. "What's yer name, lass?"

She smiled wryly. "That wholly depends on whom you ask."

"She gave me the same answer," Fíli admitted.

That didn't cheer Óin up in the slightest. He fixed his charge with his eyes. "I'm asking you," he pointed out.

The young ranger seemed startled and looked up at him with wide eyes. He could easily read the confusion in it. "Rothruin," she finally answered.

Óin had no idea whether that truly was her name or something she had made up on the spot, but it was good enough. Let others decide whether she was truthful or not. "Óin, at yer service." He briefly debated whether he should also ask her age, but decided he'd rather not know. He got up, fixed the three youngsters with his stare and warned them 'not an inch' before moving off to inform Thorin and Gandalf that the ranger had awoken.

"She's awake," he echoed Kíli's statement from earlier.

Gandalf's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Thorin didn't fare much better. "You said she wouldn't wake up anytime soon," Thorin mentioned covering up his surprise.

Óin dipped his head. "Yet she is. Says her name is Rothruin, after some nonsense about her name depending on whom you ask."

Gandalf laughed lightly. "Her name is Rothruin, my dear Óin, don't worry about that. She was merely expressing her distaste of others giving her names, as so often happens with rangers."

"You know her then," inquired Thorin.

"I met her once or twice. I can hardly call that knowing and I have not seen her in many years." The wizard got his pipe and puffed. "Anything else she said, Óin? I myself am rather curious about a few things."

Óin huffed. "You'll have to ask her yerself. But I for one don't like her outlook on life. She found her own ambush ironic."

Gandalf silently smoked his pipe, not moving or answering for quite a while. Thorin was likewise silent though his eyes were fixed on the ranger and Óin could only guess what their leader was thinking about. "Did she," Gandalf mused. "I suppose I'll ask her myself then. I assume she's up to it?"

Óin waved his concerns away. "The lads are probably chattering away at her already."

Gandalf smiled and moved towards young Rothruin. "Get some sleep," Thorin ordered as he went after the wizard.

Óin found that a rather attractive proposal, though he narrowed his eyes as he saw their wizard and leader were hardly the only ones to gravitate towards the injured lass. He was not the only one to notice and not like that, as Thorin quickly ordered them away. Their burglar stayed near though and both lads didn't move either. Óin huffed and went in search of his bedroll. He had a feeling he'd better sleep now as he wouldn't get much in the night.


	2. Chapter 2: Wandering Trolls

**I'm charging blindly in the dark. Well, I know where the light is, but still.**

* * *

Rothruin largely ignored the chatterings of the two dwarves watching over her. Fíli and Kíli they had introduced themselves as. She didn't really have the mind to listen as events both past and present rushed up to meet her. A part of her wanted to sleep, to forget the world of troubles and to escape the pain her injuries brought her, but another part of her was to be honest quite scared. She knew she would have nightmares if she went to sleep now. Her ambush, the location and the realisation that eight years hadn't really dulled the event made her wary to sleep. There was no doubt in her mind she would spent the night screaming.

"Rothruin."

She blinked and tried to focus on her surroundings and companions. An old, familiar wizard was leaning over her concern shining in his eyes. The constant chattering had stopped and Rothruin could feel many pairs of eyes on her. "Gandalf," she merely said.

Gandalf smiled. "Ah, I was beginning to worry when you didn't respond. Well met again, young Rothruin, though I had wished it to be under better circumstances."

There were no good circumstances in her life in Rothruin's mind. Plenty of bad and the occasional neutral, but a truly good happening she couldn't remember. She didn't say any of those things, but merely stared at the wizard and his companion. He was a dwarf, as all the others were next to Gandalf as far as she could see, and he had a regal bearing about him. His face was stern, but she could see there was kindness also. He reminded her of her late chieftain.

"This is Thorin Oakenshield, leader of our company. You were lucky we passed by when we did."

Rothruin supposed she was, though luck was rarely on her side. She thanked them and the regal dwarf inclined his head. He seemed satisfied to leave the matter of her person to Gandalf as demonstrated when said wizard turned to interrogate her. Though Gandalf called it asking questions.

"Glad though I may be of meeting you again, I was under the impression you were stationed at Annúminas. What are you doing in these parts?"

"Visiting." Rothruin kept her answer short and clipped. Though she held a healthy respect for the grey wizard, he had no business sticking his nose in hers. She already did not like that he knew where she had been the last years, though that knowledge probably came from Lord Elrond and not a ranger.

Gandalf hummed while watching her closely. "On your own?"

She felt fury rising up in her and glared at the wizard. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She dearly wished to make that very clear, but as if sensing that Fíli restrained her so she could not move. "Yes, on my own. Habad let me go and complied with my wish."

"Lord Elrond would not deem it wise."

Rothruin felt the urge to huff. "Of course not. He did not deem my return to Annúminas wise either. I'm very well aware he wanted me to stay in Rivendell, Gandalf, and live in safety with Estel. Such a life is not for me whether it is wise or not. I'm a wanderer and a wanderer I always shall be."

Gandalf dipped his head, though Rothruin held no illusions about his agreement with her words. No doubt he would conspire with Lord Elrond to keep her in Rivendell when undoubtedly she was dropped off there or near there. Gandalf suddenly sighed. "I assume it was near here?"

Rothruin looked at him startled. It took a while before she realised what he had asked and then she nodded. "The narrow pathway on the right." She watched him leave, leaving her alone with three dwarves and to her surprise when she looked around, a halfling. She had no idea what a halfling could possibly be doing beyond Bree and in the company of dwarves, but it wasn't really her business.

"We'll take you as far as we can. We will not visit the elves however."

Rothruin smiled at the distaste in Thorin's voice. "You don't need to. If we can pass by the Ford of the Bruinen that will be far enough. I can make it to Rivendell from there on my own." Though hopefully by that time her injuries had healed enough so that a visit to the elves was not needed. The cheery prospect of seeing Estel again did not counter the dislike Rothruin had for the healing ward and the tendencies of healers.

* * *

The following days it took to cross the Lone-Lands were extremely monotonous. During the day Rothruin rode together with Gandalf, safely held in his arms so she wouldn't aggravate her injuries too much, and often nodded off. During the evening she got company from Fíli and Kíli whenever they weren't on watch duty, and at times the hobbit, Bilbo, and Balin stayed with her as well. They told her stories of their home, their wanderings and things from their history and she did the same. It helped get her mind off things, but when night truly rolled around she was left alone with her thoughts. She rarely slept during the night, and if she did, she often woke with a start still partly lost in her nightmares. As the days wore on her nightmares abated however, probably to the relief of everyone. Óin checked on her with every rest they took and often huffed about traveling being bad for her injuries. She didn't interact much with the rest of the company, though she got to know them all the same.

When they crossed the Last Bridge into the Trollshaws, Rothruin was very much relieved. Finally they had left the dreary Lone-Lands behind them and almost passed into the lands of the elves of Rivendell. Óin had also finally allowed her to take walks as long as she was supported by someone. Her leg didn't support her weight that well, though she felt she could run on it if she wanted to. Bofur had joined the little band that kept her company and together with Fíli and Kíli he supported her whenever she felt the urge to walk. Which to Óin's consternations was quite often. She hated sitting still.

Rothruin shifted minimally on the horse as Gandalf dismounted. The company had found an abandoned, run down farm where Thorin decided they would rest for the night. Gandalf helped her descend, before walking up to Thorin and he began arguing with him.

Rothruin hobbled around, staying out of Óin's sight. She recognized this farm. A sudden chill settled in her stomach, only exemplified when Gandalf came rushing through the camp.

"Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense!"

"And who's that?"

"Myself, mister Baggins!"

Rothruin might've smiled at that display any other day, but now she didn't like in the least that the wizard left. She hobbled to the run down house where Thorin stood watching the events. She waved away the help Bofur offered, ignored Óin's glares and approached Thorin with the full intent of telling him they should move on. Before she could however, he started barking orders.

"Fíli, Kíli, watch the ponies. Make sure you stay with them. Óin, Glóin, get a fire going. Bombur, we're hungry." Only then did he level a dark look at the ranger. "You are wasting your time, we will not go to the elves."

Confusion flickered over her face, before Rothruin understood and sighed. His aversion to elves was borderline ridiculous and she didn't appreciate being lumped together with the grey wizard. "I wasn't going to tell you to make for Rivendell. I was going to advise you to move on."

"And why is that? We have found shelter for the night."

Rothruin supposed she was lucky he was sort of listening and not sending her away. "When last I came through these parts, a farmer and his family still lived here," she gave him a dark look, "that was less than four months ago." She left unsaid that the damage was caused not by time, but by something else.

Thorin however, was stubborn. "We will stay here for the night."

She shrugged. "Let's hope whatever did this, has moved on then." She hobbled away without waiting for an answer and settled down against a part of the remaining wall. Óin immediately started fussing over her leg, before reluctantly admitting no harm was done by her hobbling around unsupported. Darkness fell and she turned her head to watch the stars. She had no company this time. Fíli and Kíli were watching the ponies, Bofur was distributing food, Bilbo was on the lookout for Gandalf and Balin was talking to his brother. She started humming softly.

"What are you humming?"

Startled Rothruin broke off her humming and looked into the curious face of Bilbo Baggins. She accepted the offered bowl of food before replying. "A melody my mother used to hum, she never told me what it was about. I once asked, but she got such a sad look in her eyes I never asked again. Sometimes I regret that." Longingly she stared up at the stars.

Bilbo shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"I asked Gandalf why you were traveling alone, he said- he said you lost your parents. I shouldn't have pried, I'm sorry."

Rothruin smiled. "Don't worry, Bilbo, it's been quite a while and I have gotten over it. I'm quite sure Gandalf will turn up sooner or later as well, so don't you worry about that either."

Relieved Bilbo smiled back. He left her alone again when Bofur beckoned him over. "Do us a favour and take this to the lads." Bofur proceeded to chastise Bombur for trying to get more stew.

Rothruin followed the figure of Bilbo until she could see him no longer. She listened only with half an ear to the conversation about Bombur's stew, instead she focused on the dwarves themselves. She realised she was going to miss all of them when the time came, even though she hadn't interacted with all of them. Tomorrow they would be close enough to Rivendell so she could leave them and enter the hidden valley on the same day, but she found she didn't really want to. She wanted to accompany them wherever they went. She snorted. As if Thorin would allow that. She had no business being on their journey, she knew that.

It wasn't long before Fíli came crashing through the bushes. "Trolls!" He rushed an explanation out Rothruin barely understood. Something about Bilbo confronting the trolls and Kíli staying behind to supervise? Whatever it was, it got the camp in an uproar. Everyone grabbed their weapons and rushed after Fíli.

Rothruin hobbled after them. The dwarves rushed in attacking three trolls for all they were worth. They smashed them, stabbed them, but it was never more than an annoyance to them. Rothruin took an arrow and tried to aim in the chaos, but her first arrow missed, as did the second. The trolls screamed and grabbed dwarves but never held them for long. Her third arrow hit, and that was all it took for a troll to rush over, blazing mad about the arrow protruding from his chest. Rothruin ducked under the fist and ran into the clearing, flinging her bow away and drawing her swords as she went. She slashed the trolls, evaded them, got rescued and rescued dwarves.

And suddenly it was silent. She and the thirteen dwarves were grouped together and watched in horror as the three trolls held up their burglar. "Bilbo!" Kíli tried rushing forward, but was held back by Thorin. Rothruin stumbled backwards, awkwardly dropping her twin swords.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off," one of the trolls threatened.

For a moment everything was still; Bilbo looked terrified, the dwarves torn. Then, Thorin stuck his sword in the ground. Angrily the rest threw their weapons down following their leader. The trolls quickly proceeded stripping them and pushing about half of them into sacks. The rest they bound to a large branch and proceeded to roast them over their fire.

Rothruin squirmed in the pile on the ground; her leg was throbbing, wholeheartedly disagreeing with her adventure. She tried getting loose, but Óin's sack restricted her movement and painfully squashed her legs.

The trolls were busy squabbling about how to eat the dwarves. "Don't bother cooking them," said one, "let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly."

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," said another.

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice," the first agreed.

Rothruin groaned as the dwarves started squirming more and more in an attempt to get free. They shouted insults at the trolls, demanded to be set free, but it accomplished nothing. The trolls didn't seem to hear them.

"Never mind the seasoning," the last troll grunted. "We ain't got all night. Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."

Dawn wasn't far away. Rothruin desperately looked at the skies as if willing them to lighten faster. If only they would squabble long enough for dawn to take them, but that was probably not included in her package of luck. Luck did include a certain halfling by the name of Bilbo Baggins however. He managed to get up, grab the attention of the trolls shouting "wait!" and hopping rather ridiculous towards them. Rothruin eyed the situation carefully and hoped the hobbit knew what he was doing.

"You are making a terrible mistake," Bilbo offered. As he was getting little reaction save for a few looks, he elaborated. "I meant with the, eh, seasoning."

"What about the seasoning?" one of them asked. He stepped towards the hobbit and Rothruin wasn't entirely sure it was just so the troll could give Bilbo his full attention. Bilbo didn't react to it at all, he proceeded to make fun of the dwarves.

"Well, have you smelled them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up."

Rothruin snorted, as the dwarves in sacks voiced their outrage. She wondered where Bilbo was going with this.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" the troll controlling the spit asked.

"Shut up," the troll who had come forward grunted. "Let the flurgaburburhobbit talk."

"The secret to cooking dwarf is," Bilbo stammered halting midsentence.

"Yes?" the troll prompted. "Come on, tell us the secret."

Rothruin could easily imagine the consternation on the hobbit's face as he tried to think of something. She silently wished him luck, she had no idea how to cook dwarf and couldn't think of something at the top of her head. Bilbo nodded hastily. "It's eh, yes, yes. The secret is," Bilbo tilted his head in thought and Rothruin nearly despaired, but then he finished his sentence, "to skin them first!"

The effect was immediate. All the dwarves started to squirm and shout at the hobbit, who rolled his eyes.

The troll beckoned to one of his mates behind him. "Tom, get me filleting knife."

"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scarf them I say, boots and all."

"He's right. Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf." The troll picked up Bombur and held him teasingly above his open mouth as if he indeed was planning to eat him, sack and all. "Nice and crunchy."

"Oh, no, not that one!" Bilbo hastily shouted. "He's infected."

"Huh?"

"You what?"

Bilbo tried to think of something quickly. "Yeah, he's got worms in his... tubes."

The troll immediately dropped Bombur exclaiming his horror. Bombur landed on Óin, Kíli and Rothruin, squashing the three of them in the process.

"In fact, they all have," Bilbo hastily continued. "They're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Parasites?" Óin asked. "Did he say parasites?"

Kíli nodded. "We don't have parasites!" he exclaimed. "You have parasites."

Rothruin was entirely confused when said dwarves suddenly started claiming they all had big parasites and tried to outparasite each other when seconds before they had objected strongly. Kíli was quite vocal with his "I have the biggest parasites!"

The troll who had dropped Bombur suddenly grabbed her and held her aloft. She refused to admit she squealed; she had not squealed, she had hissed at the sudden pain. "This one's no dwarf! Let's eat it then and deal with the dwarves later!"

"You don't want to!" Rothruin squeaked. She had spoken before she really processed what she was doing and her mind got in overdrive to think of something to get her out of this situation.

"Yes!" Bilbo joined her assertion. "You really don't want to, she has been spending time with these dwarves! There's no telling what she may have gotten!"

"Nonsense. That little human will do very nicely in our stew, won't it boys?" the troll at the spit asked rather threateningly.

The troll who held Rothruin bowed his head. "Of course, of course."

"A warg bit me!" Rothruin shouted panicking. "Twice! I'm infected with whatever they had!"

She only got an angry stare for her efforts. The troll handling the spit let it go and got over to Bilbo. "What would you have us do then? Let you go? Let all of you go? You think I don't know what you're up to?" He jabbed the hobbit in the chest. "This little ferret is taking us for fools!" He got back to the spit ignoring the surprised exclamations of one of his mates and of Bilbo.

"The dawn will take you all!"

Rothruin tried to see where Gandalf was, for only he could've said that, but her troll turned around and dropped her. Her view suddenly righted itself when she landed on the ground and just saw the grey wizard splitting a stone in half. Through the gap came sunlight. The long awaited dawn. She watched as the trolls groaned while they turned into stone. For a moment all of them could only stare, before as if in silent agreement they all started laughing, Rothruin with them.

Gandalf came down from his perch and helped them get out of their sacks and off the spit. He proceeded to take Thorin apart, but Rothruin didn't pay it that much attention. As soon as she was out of her prison, she checked her leg. Óin was checking out the others, maybe momentarily forgetting her, but she could see with her unskilled eye that the night had not done her any favours. Dawn was here, but there was no avoiding the healing ward now.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up to see who had spoken, recognizing Fíli who was busy putting his inventory of weapons back into their appropriate holsters. It never occurred to her how many he really had until now. His brother was not far behind, fussing over the hobbit. She looked at her leg and grimaced. "Could be better, but everything considered; just fine."

Fíli smiled. "Can you walk? There's a troll hoard nearby."

Rothruin snorted. "Of course there is, but I'm not going in there. It's a troll hoard, it must smell even more awful than they did." She sniffed, rubbing at her nose as if she could already smell the hoard. "Oh, and I don't know. If I really want to, I probably can, but I doubt it's a good idea. They weren't exactly careful."

"Neither were you," Fíli pointed out. He obviously remembered her stunts with her bow and swords as she charged after them.

"Not going to say sorry." She smiled, but soon dropped it as she shifted uncomfortably. "On that subject, I don't suppose you can- eh, my weapons I mean." She fell silent, awkwardly rubbing her neck.

"Kíli has them." He jabbed his finger in Kíli's general direction. He helped her up and functioned as her crutch. They were joined by Kíli and Bilbo as they were the last ones to get to the cave that held the hoard. Fíli resisted the urge to gag as the smell hit his nose. Rothruin had been pretty correct in her assumption if just outside it already smelled like this. He didn't have to think long before resolving to stay outside and he wasn't the only one. Next to him, Rothruin, Kíli and Bilbo, Bifur, Bombur, Dwalin, Dori and Ori had also stayed outside. Gandalf's voice drifted up stating exactly why it stank so much. "It's a troll hoard." It was the short version of Rothruin's already short explanation.

Rothruin let Fíli help her sit down and gratefully took back her weapons from Kíli. Never mind that she was completely useless with that stupid leg of hers, she could still shoot. Even if her aim was bound to be off right now. Sighing she watched the remainder of the dwarves, nearly screaming when suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. Óin watched her amused. "Let me see yer leg, lass."

"Don't tell me," she hastily said, "I don't want to know."

Óin hadn't seemed to hear her as he jumped into scolding her and explaining exactly what was wrong with her leg. Rothruin hated healers, though Óin would probably use his trumpet as an excuse.

She was extremely glad when she heard Thorin ordering the lot outside. She noted amused that he held an elvish blade, as Nori, Bofur, Glóin and Dwalin came rushing out. They spread out, joining their kin and talking about what they had found. Though Bifur, she noticed, held up an animal skull for Kíli to inspect. She just let the rush go past her and enjoyed the peace while it lasted. Which of course, was never long. She was extremely glad Fíli had hovered around her when Thorin exclaimed: "Something's coming!" Fíli helped her up and together with his brother he stood protectively in front of her. Rothruin fingered her bow, cursing her rotten luck.

"Hurry now! Arm yourselves!" Gandalf had reacted. The makeshift camp burst into activity as everyone grabbed their weapons and held them in warm welcome of whatever was coming.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!"


End file.
